Wise n' Shine: MLB predictions and Wimbledon best bets for Wednesday, July 5

Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another wonderful Wednesday of sports. We have a busy MLB slate today, plus plenty of Wimbledon action to keep us entertained, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

Fireworks across the MLB slate
Major League Baseball took center stage on America’s Independence Day, and our handicapping team was on the ball once again as we hit our MLB parlay for the second straight day! In the nation’s capital, the Reds bested the Nationals, while the Padres knocked off the Angels in a thriller and the Phillies upset the Rays at the Trop.

Chestnut remains the Hot Dog king
This year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest was almost cancelled due to rain, but thankfully Joey Chestnut came to the rescue and ensured it was only delayed by 2 hours. Chestnut went on to win the contest to secure his 16th title, while we comfortably cashed our best bet of Under 72.5 hot dogs consumed by Chestnut, as he was only able to down 62 in 10 minutes.

Washout at Wimbledon
Rain has been a major factor through the first 2 days at Wimbledon, especially wreaking havoc on Tuesday, as over 30 Round 1 matches were postponed until Wednesday. Among matches that started but were suspended due to rain, Dominic Thiem led the fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 3-4 and Matteo Berrettini dropped the first set to Lorenzo Sonego.

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Today’s Slate

15 MLB games on Wednesday
We’ve got 15 MLB games in store today, including Orioles vs Yankees, Mets vs Diamondbacks and A’s vs Tigers on FS1. Read all of today’s MLB predictions.

Wimbledon Round 2 kicks off
Across the pond, Wimbledon is in full swing and despite some rain delays, the quality of tennis has been extremely high. Some of the high-profile matches include Janick Sinner vs Diego Schwartzman, Frances Tiafoe vs Yibing Wu and Dominic Thiem vs Stefanos Tsitsipas. Don’t miss our expert’s Wimbledon predictions.

Best Bet of the Day

MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 (-120) over Pittsburgh Pirates
10:10 pm ET

This is a perfect opportunity for Bobby Miller to bounce back after a pair of disappointing outings. Miller was fantastic in his first 4 starts at the Major League level (0.78 ERA), and his xERA is nearly a full point lower than his actual ERA number. Given that the Pirates are 24th in SLG and OPS this season, I’m expecting some positive regression and a strong outing from the young Dodger phenom at home. The Dodgers offense has been in boom-or-bust mode recently, but they’re typically going to get consistent production from the top of their lineup on most nights. This unit should tee off against Pirates starter Luis Ortiz, who sits in the bottom 5 percentile in xBA, xERA, xwOBA, xSLG and strikeout percentage. If Los Angeles plays up to its potential, this should be a lopsided victory. Check out our full MLB predictions.

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Must-read

Our MLB mega parlay and YRFI/NRFI best bets for today are ready to read, along with our Wimbledon Day 3 best bets. Our expert Diane Knox Balas, fresh from last week’s +1400 odds win with Rickie Fowler, has golf predictions for this week’s event, the John Deere Classic.

Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.

Stat of the Day

Joey Chestnut has now won 8 straight and 16 of the last 17 men’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contests. He downed 62 hot dogs on Tuesday to win another Mustard Belt.